Joke for Dad

Dad, my friend Neil over at Food for Thought has posted a joke for you. Who knew when I started this blogging stuff we'd make such nice friends from all over the world?!

Neil is from St Kilda, Victoria, Australia. How cool is that?

Here's one for Jack and Lorna...

Which Serenity character are you?

Which Star Trek Character Are You?

Your results:
You are Uhura

You are a good communicator with a
pleasant soft-spoken voice.

You are slso a talented singer.

Click here to take the "Which Star Trek character are you?" quiz...

Unplug Me

In honor of my dad, grandma and uncle's birthdays which are all in the last two weeks of July, I offer you this tale which goes a long way toward describing the genetic origins of my twisted mental state.

Several years ago, when my grandmother was in the hospital plugged up to a variety of machines, my uncle, his wife, my dad and my mom stood vigil over her failing health. My dad commented that perhaps it was time to take grandma off of her artificial means of support.

My uncle looked at my dad, walked over to grandma and spoke loudly into her ear, "Mama! Red wants to pull the plug! You don't want us to pull the plug do you?" My uncle was, excuse the pun, dead serious; but, this little episode has became a great source of amusement to the rest of the family. Grandma passed away a few weeks later and my dad swears she gave everyone except him one last loving glance before passing on to that great crawfish boil in the sky. To my dad, according to him, she gave one last evil eye.

Several years later, my uncle underwent major (is there any other kind?) open heart surgery. As my uncle lay in recovery, to the horror of my uncle's children, dad went up to him and whispered, "Hey, Wayne, you want me to pull the plug?" My dad explained the earlier grandma episode to my cousins, but I don't think they were amused. They aren't quite as twisted as my siblings and I. We have a little bit of Courville mixed in with our Ransonette.

My dad recently had major (is there any other kind?) abdominal surgery. When mom told my uncle about the pending surgery, my uncle told my mom that when he sees dad in recovery, he would be asking him if he wanted him to pull the plug. My mom, not knowing dad had whispered those same words to my uncle, was horrified. She told dad she couldn't believe Wayne would even think of saying such a thing to him and my dad, much to my mom's chagrin, said, "Why not? I said it to him."

A few hours after dad's surgery, as he lay in recovery in ICU, my uncle walked up to him and whispered into his ear, "Hey, Red. You want me to unplug something?"

My dad, still heavily sedated, opened his eyes, looked at my uncle, looked at my mom and shook his head and said to mom, "He can't even say it right."

"Pull the plug, Wayne," my dad said, "The right way to say it is 'Do you want me to pull the plug?'"

Bo Bice and Me

This afternoon I will be headed to Delta Downs for a little gambling and then a Bo Bice concert this evening with Terry, Melissa and Destiny. If I don't come back, don't look for me. I'll blog from the road.


Edited at 12:08 a.m. - Brief Concert Review

Bo Bice and his band Sugar Money put on a kick-ass southern rock concert. Bo has an excellent voice nicely suited to either ballads or rock and he sang some of both. The band consisted of two lead guitarists and Bo would occasionally play guitar himself. Three excellent guitarists onstage made for quite an entertaining show. (Note: One of the guitarists might have been a rhythm guitarist and the other a lead guitarist, but, quite frankly, I've never been able to tell the difference. I do know that both guitarists had several solos. So, my guess is that they traded off between rhythm and lead guitar duties.)

Bo did a short acoustic set which included a nice solo rendition of Southern Cross. Why someone would sing Southern Cross without the harmonies is a mystery to me, but that's the way he performed it. All five members of the band joined Bo for a beautiful a cappella verse of a song (sorry, can't remember which song) later in the program and it again made me question his decision to do Southern Cross alone.

Bo is an energetic and charismatic performer although I really don't understand the whole mic stand twirling thing. It makes me want to yell at him, "You're gonna to put someone's eye out with that thing, kid!"

Richie Sambora wrote a song for Bo and the band and it was a good song. However, the best songs of the night by far were, Sweet Home Alabama, Freebird, Pink Houses and Whipping Post. While Bo does a fine job with the American Idol-ish pop vocals, I hope he and his band start putting out some original music with more of a bluesy, jazzy, rock and roll attitude to them.

I highly recommend a ticket to a Bo Bice concert if he's ever in your area, even if you weren't an American Idol fan. In fact, if you're looking for the American Idol version of Bo Bice, you'll get a taste of that but the meat and potatoes of the show is the aforementioned kick-ass southern rock.

Review correction:

The acoustic song he did solo was not Southern Cross, it was Seven Bridges Road. I get those two songs mixed up. My wish to hear it sung in 5-part harmony still stands though.

Review addendum - The Venue:

This was my first concert at the Delta Downs Event Center at the racetrack in Vinton, Louisiana. It's a fairly small venue consisting of about twenty rows of floor seating and about thirty rows of stadium style seating. I would compare it size-wise to a small high school auditorium (total capacity 887).

The chair rows weren't overly crammed together and the seats were pretty comfortable. My seats were toward the top of the middle section and I had a great view and the sound was good. My sister was sitting over to one side and she said the sound wasn't so good from there. All in all, I liked it because of the small size but I reserve judgment on the sound until I sit in other areas of the event center.

Mmmmmm...bacon

Monster Wild BoarDate: 9/28/2003
Author: Frank Berbuir

Shot in France on September 28, 2003 by spot and stalk.
Weight: 486 lb (221 Kg)
Biggest Wild Boar shot with a Bow in this area until this day.
One of a lifetime - thanks to Chris & Bow Archery.
Bow: Mathews SQ2
Arrow: Beaman ICS Camo Hunter 400
Broadhead: Muzzy 2-Blade, 125 grain
Camo: Cabelas Realtree X-tra Brown
Optics: Zeiss Victory 10x40 and Bushnell Yardage Pro Sport Rangefinder.
What a hunt!
Thank you Mathews for this wonderful reliable bow.

New Orleans Graphic

I came across a blog recently that stated "...from what I understand, New Orleans is being rebuilt pretty successfully...." Her point was that, the people who have been displaced should quit complaining and just go back to New Orleans.

I hadn't realized, or even thought about it for that matter, that a lot of folks probably feel this way. With so many scary things happening around the world, the situation around the Gulf Coast is pretty much just local news.

I've referred you to the blog of Tim in New Orleans before but I refer you again. It's paints a scary, yet hopeful, picture of people who have lost their homes in New Orleans and are trying to live as normal a life as possible while trying to get back to "normal."

I came across this graphic at NOLA Live which is an excellent visual of the timeline of the flooding which occurred almost a year ago.

News

Cory and Jamie's pregnancy didn't make it. They're doing fine and the doctor says they'll be fine to try again in a couple of months.

Dad is doing really well with his chemo and the doctor says the bloodwork shows definite improvement.

If only...

How Will You Be Described in the Dictionary?

Laurie Anderson -- [adjective]: Pretentiously academian 'How will you be defined in the dictionary?' at QuizGalaxy.com

What Will Your Obituary Say?

'What will your obituary say?' at QuizGalaxy.com

Poblano Grill

I met some friends at Poblano Grill for dinner tonight and I have a margarita to recommend. It's the Poblano Grill Perfect Margarita. I don't know the quantities but the ingredients are 1800 Anejo, Cointreau and Grand Marnier and it was (they were) fantastic.

I also highly recommend the fish tacos. The tacos were served with a skewer of grilled vegetables and a side of rice. I usually consider the rice on a plate of Mexican food to be filler and take a couple of bites and leave it at that. This was the best Mexican rice I've ever eaten. It was savory and delicious as were the grilled vegetables.

The tacos were served on very light soft flour tortillas and were made with tilapia, fresh cilantro, pico di gallo with a light creamy sauce drizzled over the entire concoction. They were great.

Poblano Grill is in Tuscany Park on Dowlen Road here in Beaumont.

In Laurie's Brain - (Un)Welcome Mats

We Moved, Knock Anyway
(The Dahmer’s love company)

WE AREN’T HOME!
(unless you’re Ed McMahon or the pizza dude)

The Doorbell Doesn’t Work
Please Scream at the Top of Your Lungs

Quarantine! Save yourself! Leave now!
(Mad Dog, Crazy Cow, Frog Flu…whatever)

Beware of Dog
(He humps and we don’t stop him.)

Whatever you do, don’t look up!
Note from Laurie: This one would work nicely along with a security camera.

Grandma doesn’t wear underwear.
Enter at your own risk.

Grandpa’s a farter.
Enter at your own risk.

Did you bring the guns?

God bless this house…
Especially Heather’s room.

Wipe your feet.
(You’re face could use a little work, too.)

Anthony Bourdain Out of Lebanon

Anthony Bourdain has left Lebanon and is reportedly in Cyprus now.